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Sunday, October 09, 2011

Sugaring vs. Waxing

Aren't they the same thing?Both are hair epilating methods.But when it comes to the pain aspect, the two methods are very different.Sugaring is also a cheaper, homemade alternative.

The sugaring paste is made up of all natural ingredients like sugar, lemon juice, water and sometimes essential oils. Most waxes are made mainly of resins and contain artificial fragrances, dyes, chemicals, and preservatives. Even though you can be allergic to any given ingredient, natural or not, it’s more common for people to be allergic to artificial fragrances and ingredients.

Sugaring paste is water soluble; therefore you can simply wash it off with water.

Sugaring will only take away dead skin cells, unlike waxing which also removes live skin cells. This means that you don’t have to worry about the sugar accidentally removing skin!

There are various sugaring recipes; I am going to give you a basic version, one I used myself.

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

¼ cup lemon juice/apple cider vinegar (whichever you prefer)

¼ cup water

You will need; a saucepan, an air-tight glass jar and a candy thermometer (optional).

Method:

Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and heat on low. Heat the mixture to a hardball candy stage. Hard ballstagerefers to cookingcandyto a certain temperature, usually between 250 oF and 265 oF (or 121.11 oC - 129.44 oC). You can use acandy thermometerto determine when you've reached thisstage. This should happen after about 25 minutes of simmering; the sugar mixture result should be a dark amber colour. Remove it from the heat and let it cool for about ten minutes before placing in an air-tight glass container. Be careful, it's hot.

Once the product has cooled, you are ready for hair removal.

How to use:

Wax is applied warm, but sometimes overheated causing a skin burn. Sugar paste is used either lukewarm or at room temperature, so there’s no chance of burning the skin.Some people heat the mixture and remove with a cloth strip, just like you would use hot wax. However, I suggest using the sugaring mixture at room temperature.

Dip your fingers into the container of sugaring paste and take out a small amount (roughly the size of a quarter). Flatten the paste in your hands until it feels slightly warm. Apply it to the area you wish to epilate. Smooth it along the area until it is approximately ¼ inch thick. You don’t need to use any cloth strips for this method.

As you probably know, wax is applied with the direction of hair growth, but removed against the grain of hair growth. However with sugaring, the past is applied against the grain of hair growth and then removedin the same direction of the growth, putting less strain on the skin. This means less pain.

Tips:

Take a bath/shower beforehand and use a body scrub, this will prepare the skin for epilation.

Make sure the hairs are about ¼ inch long; you won’t be able to remove hair if it’s too short.

If you don’t use up all the mixture the first time, you can keep it refrigerated and warm up/thaw when you want to re-use.

Sugaring can be done on all body parts.

Sugaring is much gentler to the skin than waxing. I suggest you give it a try, if you haven’t already.